The names of authors who have sold millions of travel guidebooks are widely known: Fodor. Frommer. Steves. Oh, and don't forget Schultz.

You know, Patricia Schultz.

Still not familiar? Her signature title surely is: "1,000 Places to See Before You Die."

The travel expert who launched legions of bucket lists back in 2003 (before we even knew what a bucket list was) has just come out with a massive, full-color second edition and companion iPad app (Workman Publishing, $19.95, 1,200 pages). It's already hit the New York Times best-seller list.

Schultz will make one Northern California stop on her book tour, a Wednesday appearance in San Jose for the Commonwealth Club that's open to the public. (For tickets, go to www.commonwealthclub.org.)

We snagged her over the holidays for a quick chat via email. Here's an edited version:

Q For a seasoned traveler with a huge franchise, you fly under the radar. In fact, you've managed to stump even Wikipedia. Where are you from, and how did you start traveling the world?

A I was born and raised in a small Hudson River town in upstate New York. I spent two weeks visiting a friend in the Dominican Republic when I was 15, and it turned my world around. I studied in Madrid during college, lived in Florence for five years after graduating from Georgetown University and have been traveling ever since. I wrote for Frommer's Guide Books for 10 years -- it was my grounding and training.

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Q How did you come up with the "1,000 Places" concept?

A I had a brainstorming session with my publisher Peter Workman in 1995, talking about a list of all the best things and places and experiences around the world -- the usual suspects and the unsung. The working title was "100 Drop Dead Places." (His idea. It gave me the shudders.) A week later, the art director added a zero because "it looked better" -- and we were off!

Q How does this new edition differ from the original? Any delicious new finds?

A Of the 200-plus new entries, there are 28 new countries. The entire Eastern Europe section was expanded to include countries that were perceived as unwelcoming and with little tourism amenities when I began the book in the late 1990s. Today the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are a revelation, and Ukraine and Georgia are seeing increased tourism. The former Yugoslavia countries of Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro were emerging from a series of wars during the first book, but today are among the eastern Mediterranean's most special destinations. Other countries had simply not been on my radar -- Nicaragua, Ghana, South Korea. Colombia had been in the original edition, but I rewrote the entire chapter after having visited in 2009. It is South America's best-kept secret. It's wonderful!

Q It's said that Rick Steves "turned" Americans on to Italy's Cinque Terre. Which "discovery" are you most proud of highlighting?

A Rather than a single region or country, I hope that the book has encouraged people to grasp the wealth of possibilities and the diversity of the world's wonders. For travelers who get stuck on Disneyland and Cancun, or a packaged grand tour of London/Paris/Rome, my aim is to open up their horizons. The book is an unpredictable mix of places both world famous (the Taj Mahal, the vineyards of Burgundy, Rio de Janeiro) and little known (French Polynesia's Marquesas Islands, Chile's Torres del Paine national park, Estonia's Curonian Spit) and everywhere in between.

Q What did you have to 86 from the original book to accommodate new entries?

A I deleted some destinations, such as a number of places in Zimbabwe -- it is simply not a welcoming place these last few years. And the occasional restaurant that has closed or lost its chef. But mostly I reorganized the book, and merged two -- and sometimes as many as four -- entries into a single comprehensive entry in the revision, thus leaving space for new places.

Q How much do you travel, and how many of the 1,000 spots have you been to personally?

A Since I completed the manuscript in July, I have been gone more than I have been home. And January through March will have me on the road for a whirlwind book tour across the United States. I'll need to catch my breath after that -- I am hoping to return to Sicily in May. It is one of Europe's most intriguing destinations. I've never counted, but my gut tells me I've been to about 80 percent of these places.

Q Will you have any downtime in the Bay Area? If so, what will you do/see/eat?

A I wouldn't consider myself a foodie, but I am the first to say that food is a big component of travel for me -- from the gastronomic temples of Lyons, to outdoor hawkers centers in Singapore, to checking out the scene in America's great eating cities. And that always includes San Francisco. And I'd like to visit Napa-Sonoma again to see what is new and delicious in an area that helped give rise to the farm-to-table concept.

Q With technological advances taking root so quickly around the world, can you foresee a time when Silicon Valley -- from Apple and Google headquarters to the garage where Hewlett-Packard started -- will make a global "must-see" list for tourists?

A And why not? If literary buffs travel to the Elephant House in Edinburgh to see where J.K. Rowling wrote some of the first chapters of Harry Potter, and the curious visit the Detroit suburb of Dearborn to see Thomas Edison's laboratory and the cycle shop where the Wright Brothers invented the airplane -- both have been relocated to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village -- then pilgrimages of every kind are possible.

Q What's next for the "1,000 Places" team?

A We just finished the most beautiful app -- a free download at the moment -- for iPad owners. It contains the full content of the book, with over a thousand photos and the chance to join an interactive community of travelers, swapping tips and anecdotes, and posting personal photos.

Q Anything left on your need-to-see list?

A Who can pretend to have seen everything? Massive countries like Russia, Australia, Brazil, China and India (and the USA, of course!) can be visited countless times, always offering new surprises and undiscovered cities. I don't pretend to know well the vast stretch of Patagonia shared by Argentina and Chile. I'd also love to see more of Central Asia, and am sad that the Arab Spring has temporarily kept countries like Yemen and Syria, among others, off our radar.

Q What are your best travel tips?

A Travel light. Unless you're having dinner with the queen, you don't need three pairs of shoes.

Choose your traveling companion carefully.

And make sure you get lost. Serendipity is the best travel guide.

Q Given the "before you die" angle, we have to ask: If you were given a choice about your last destination on Earth, what would you pick?

A I would like it to have that end-of-the-Earth feeling, as if I were already one foot in another dimension -- immersed in the pristine world of Mongolia or Antarctica. But I think I would also like to go back one more time to Italy, the place I love the best. As Robert Browning wrote, "Open my heart and you will see, engraved inside of it, Italy!"

Contact Linda Zavoral at 408-920-5960.

IF YOU'RE INTERESTED

What: Author Patricia Schultz's appearance at the Commonwealth Club's Silicon Valley chapter is open to the public.When: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Historic Hoover Theatre, 1635 Park Ave., San Jose. The program starts at 7 and will be followed by an 8 p.m. book signing.Details: Tickets, $15 general, $10 members and $5 students, available at www.commonwealth.org.